happy birthday, michy!!

It’s Michele’s 48th birthday today! I know, generally, after a certain age it’s a little rude to talk about how old someone is, but this feels like a real win. When I was a kid, this was the prediction that doctors didn’t believe they could make. To be brutally honest, most doctors didn’t expect Mich to see her 18th birthday, never mind her 48th. This is probably morbid, but sometimes I wonder if she managed to outlive some of those doctors. Anyway, I’m so glad they were wrong. Now, lets celebrate a few of Mich’s favourite things.

MUSIC!

In honour of Mich’s birthday, I put together a playlist of songs that I’m hoping Mich will really enjoy. Her love of music became my love of music. Mich’s favourite type of music is pop rock. Personally, I’m a little pickier, but I know exactly what she likes best: a driving beat. A little bit of rock and roll with a good beat has always inspired her to keep tempo. Sometimes she uses a fist, sometimes just a foot. When it starts, you know she’s digging the groove.

ANIMALS!

Alright, sometimes Mich is just pretending to tolerate animals. You almost believe her until they get right up in her face and she thinks it’s hilarious. As a defense mechanism, Mich can be quite grabby. Unless you know Mich well, you’re better off staying out of her arm’s reach. Somehow, animals are allowed to breach this space. There’s some kind of immediate understanding between Mich and animals. I don’t understand it but I’ve seen it happen many, many times. My Mom likes to tell this story about Mich at the local “African Lion Safari”. I think it might have been Mich’s first time there, because for some reason the backseat windows were down. Mich is sitting back there. My Mom is driving, she realizes the back windows are down, she hears laughing. She turns to look: somehow a giraffe was poking its head into the car and Mich was petting it, laughing. 

Here she is with our best friend, the family dog, Cindy.

CHAOS!

Not too much, just a little bit, like children-wailing-in-a-department-store-on-Christmas-Eve kind of chaos. I love going shopping with her at Christmas time because of this. Some little kid starts wailing within arm’s reach, Mich starts laughing, then she starts grabbing. Next thing you know the kid’s got another thing to wail about. Mich is still laughing. Parents are getting involved. Mich gets more grabby, in between bouts of laughter. Meanwhile, I’ve started to laugh and the whole thing becomes even more absurd. Mich’s sense of humour is definitely my favourite thing about her. It can surprise you with its subtlety.

Here’s a picture of Mich at her 40th birthday party. She got the festivities rolling by putting her hand in the cake and beginning to eat handfuls of it. At first we all freaked out a little bit, then we realized how lucky we’d feel if we were able to do the same on our own birthdays.